Victory
by Lozzinator
Summary: Oneshot. Complete. Karen is in need of Twizzlers, who can help her find them? A short story focusing on the relationship between Olivia and Karen.


Victory

"Hey short stuff; hold this for a moment" commanded Karen, who pushed a martini into the hands of a ten year old. Olivia looked somewhat upset.

"No! You can't give _me_ alcomahol!" Olivia squealed, slamming the glass down onto the kitchen counter that Karen was bending down next to. Karen's ears seemed to prick up at this exclamation. She slowly turned her body, still keeping in exactly the same position as she had before Olivia's outburst. Her face seemed contorted, her eyebrows raised. Karen was at the same level as Olivia, their faces mere inches from each other.

"Pardon?" Karen said in almost a whisper. Her voice didn't need to shout to have the affect that it had on Olivia right at this moment. Olivia squirmed inwardly.

"..Nothing." she replied.

"That's what i thought." Karen said to thin air as she swiveled back into her previous position. She was crouched on the floor, rummaging through a cupboard. Olivia's face softened with curiosity.

"Whatcha doing?" Olivia pondered, standing on tip-toes to try and see what Karen was looking for. Karen stopped momentarily, as if surprised that Olivia hadn't ran off crying.

"I'm looking for something." Karen said irritably, as if to be swatting a bothersome gnat. In truth, she was searching for where Mason had hidden the Twizzlers. Karen fancied something sweet to go with her mid-morning martini, and the only thing she could find in the kitchen was Nerds. They wouldn't do at all.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Olivia asked, obviously not knowing when to stop asking questions. She held her hands behind her back and swayed innocently. Karen sighed heavily,

"Listen, kid, I don't need you poking your un-powdered nose in all of my business, thank you very much." Karen hissed,

"But i could... help... you." Olivia shuffled her feet, face pointing towards the floor. She was obviously embarrassed of her sudden affection. Karen breathed the beginnings of a laugh,

"I'm not paying you to help me-"

"I didn't say you had to." answered Olivia quickly. She obviously knew how to play Karen by now, and she wasn't backing down easily. Olivia was bored; the least she could do was entertain herself. The tension in the room had increased dramatically.

"Listen here, midge. How could a ten year old possibly help me right now?" Karen questioned. Olivia waited for a moment, savoring the moment that she knew would be approaching.

"I could help you find the Twizzlers…" she said in almost a theatrical tone. Karen immediately stopped rummaging and her head curtly clipped around to face Olivia again. Karen looked straight into the girl's eyes as if to find the truth lying in the gleaming blue pools. She seemed to have made her verdict.

"All right. Lead the way, shorty." Karen stood up and swiftly grabbed the martini from the counter. Olivia beamed; she spun on her heel immediately and ran off out of the kitchen and into one of the many corridors. Karen's shoes snapped on the tiles as she strode across the kitchen, following the girl. She couldn't help but look around the room to see if she had missed a possible hiding place. In the corridor, Karen saw that Olivia had already ran up the stairs and stood at the top of the staircase.

"Come on, Karen, keep up!" Olivia giggled. Karen scoffed and started to climb the wooden stairs.

"I aint as young as you, kiddo." Karen pointed out, "you're a lot more nimble than me you know." Olivia chuckled as Karen approached her onto the top step.

"It's funny because it's true." Olivia muttered, smiling to herself. Karen had been taking a sip of her martini and momentarily choked. Karen swore she had heard Olivia say something that she would have found funny. She dismissed it with an uncaring wave of the hand.

The pair walked for what seemed like ten minutes, Karen never before appreciated how far the kitchen was from everything else. She usually made her way around the house in small trips. For example, if she wanted to go to the library; she'd leave the kitchen, walk for five minutes, stop off in a room used for liquor storage, then carry on for five minutes, she'd stop again after five minutes; get herself a drink and then carry on for another five minutes. These trips to wherever Karen fancied, could take up to an hour.

Karen and Olivia finally stopped outside of Mason's room. Karen leaned on the door, breathing heavily. "Oh Lord, if I carry on like that I'll be thinner than Kate Moss!" She held a hand onto her stomach, finished the rest of the martini and threw it down the hallway. Olivia gasped in disapproval, Karen glared at her, "that's what the help are paid for, honey. If they want their monthly wage of a handful of peanuts, they need to GET TO WORK!" Karen shrieked suddenly as she saw one of the maids creep around the end of the hall out of the corner of her eye.

Olivia ignored her; she was obviously used to this. Karen would be very drunk by now. Olivia rapped on the door three times, "Mason!" she waited for a reply. Olivia looked up at Karen and nodded, the awkwardness had just started to rear its filthy head. When no reply came, Olivia knocked again and yelled "Have you got those Twizzlers in there?!"

Karen slammed her fist on the door repeatedly. Olivia rolled her eyes. Karen had obviously never conned anything from Mason before. Olivia grabbed Karen's fist, she placed a finger to her lips, indicating silence. "What're you doing? I want my Twizzle-!" Olivia shoved her spare hand over Karen's mouth. Olivia sighed, and slowly let go, making sure that Karen wouldn't blurt out anything else. Karen seemed to have gotten the message; she shut up.

"Watch this," Olivia muttered in a whisper, "Mason, there's a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream on the kitchen counter for you!" she shouted, a sly smirk sliding onto her face. Karen's mouth dropped open. _Of course, bribe the fat one with food. The squirt's smarter than she looks, _Karen thought. Olivia glared at Karen, as she heard rummaging from inside Mason's room; she waved for Karen to go away. Karen spun on her heel and hid around the end of the hall. She couldn't help but giggle silently as she heard thunderous steps out of Mason's room and down the stair case. Now was the time to move.

Karen ran around the corner, meeting Olivia at Mason's door. "Right, we have approximately two minutes to get in, find the Twizzlers and get out." Olivia rushed, she had obviously done this before, "there will be no lagging behind, if you fall, then I WILL leave you, got it?" Karen nodded curtly, "We need to search for them if he hasn't left them lying about, he usually hides his things in his underwear drawer" seeing Karen wince, Olivia quickly added, "I'll go in there, I've done it before." Karen winced again at the thought. Olivia ignored her and ran into Mason's room.

Mason's room was huge, it was like an arcade. It had about ten arcade games, Pac-Man and Space Invaders. The walls were covered in posters and drawings. In the corner was a large plasma TV screen, several game consoles were plugged into the socket and a small sofa sat in front of the television. Mason was very untidy, clothes and toys were thrown across the room; some dishes and glasses were also scattered across the floor. Karen's face twisted, obviously displeased at the sight. "Karen, come on! We only have one minute and twenty five seconds left!" Olivia squealed, she was already rummaging through one of the many piles of rubbish that cluttered Mason's domain.

Karen snapped into gear, she began to carefully and slowly pick away at some dirty clothes on Mason's bed. Olivia sped about the room, upturning the filth that had been there previously, and making it even messier than before. Gradually getting faster, Karen's determination began to show when she began to practically haul the rubbish out of her way. Suddenly, Olivia shrieked, she lifted the Twizzlers above her head in victory. Karen's face lit up, they had done it.

Suddenly, a shadow filled half of the room. Mason had brought the ice cream back to his room and obviously had been stunned by the sight he found. "What are you doing with those?" Mason asked, pointing with his spoon towards Olivia, who also had frozen. Karen stood up slowly, "now, Michael-"

"Mason-"

"Mason. That's what I said." Karen dismissed, "Don't go doing anything stupid now, all I want are the Twizzlers. I can get you a whole box of them, if you want." Olivia signaled to Karen, and Karen moved quickly just as Mason dove for Olivia. Mason hit the ground with a deafening 'thud' and Karen threw herself on top of him. She sat on his back and shouted, "Run, Olivia! RUN!" Olivia didn't need to be told twice, she sped out of the room in a flash of red curls. Karen jumped off of Mason and quickly ran out of the bedroom, closing and locking the door when on the other side.

Olivia had leaned up against the wall, panting. "I thought he was going to eat me" she breathed.

"Tell me about it, when he roared, I could see the chunks of cookie dough in his mouth." Karen rasped, she placed a hand to her chest for some sort of control.

The pair took a while to recover; they gave each other an awkward smile before Olivia handed the Twizzlers over to Karen. She took the packet and opened them, offering one to Olivia. Olivia obliged and carefully unglued a single piece and popped the end of it into her mouth. The older woman did the same.

Karen looked down at Olivia and smiled. _She's a good kid. _Olivia held up her spare hand, indicating a high-five. Karen pushed her hand against the child's. Olivia stepped around Karen and skipped along the corridor. Karen turned to watch her go, her curls bouncing behind her as she skipped. Karen smiled. She turned and began to walk in the opposite direction of Olivia. She smiled as she sucked on the red liquorice. _I think I've found a new team mate... _Karen thought.


End file.
